Riley sees major role for Wade 'for years to come'

MIAMI — Dwyane Wade headed into the offseason with his outlook unspoken, declining to follow LeBron James and Chris Bosh during Tuesday's postseason wrap-up media session.

Instead, Miami Heat President Pat Riley was left Thursday to offer a forecast of what's next for the All-Star guard who turns 33 next season.

"Dwyane is a champion, a Miami Heat for life," Riley said at AmericanAirlines Arena. "He is examined more than anyone else.

"Since 2003 on, our world has changed. Does he have to reinvent himself? Absolutely."

Wade has been with the Heat since being selected with the No. 5 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. He struggled with injuries in recent years, sat out 28 games during the 2013-14 regular season, and had one of his worst playoff showings during the just-completed NBA Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Riley said introspection more than outside concern is what should resonate.

"What does he have to do mentally and spiritually to get him to another level at the age of 32?" Riley mused. "He doesn't have the debilitating injury to end his career. Is there something that would allow him to become physically better?

"He's too smart, too good, too talented to not play a major role for years to come."

Wade can invoke his early-termination option by June 29 to become a free agent on July 1. Otherwise he has two seasons remaining on his contract.

Asked if he could envision Wade in the type of sixth-man role that has helped extend the career of Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, Riley said it "has not been discussed."

He then quipped of Wade's stubbornness, "We would probably have to get in a room with boxing gloves to have that discussion, which I would not want to do."

Oden's back pain

Riley revealed that it was "a severe back injury" that limited Greg Oden over the latter stages of the season, not the knee issues that had the massive center him out of the league for four years before this season's return.

Riley said he was hopeful of Oden re-signing.

"I've seen him play and practice and I've seen him play in some games," Riley said, "and you just don't want to walk away from that kind of a talent."

Birdman's woes

Riley pointed to the thigh bruise sustained by center Chris Andersen in the third game of the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers as the reason for the limited contributions during the NBA Finals by the player known as Birdman.

"Chris had one of the best seasons he ever had until he suffered an incredibly painful injury versus Indiana and how he played through the pain," he said. "That might have had an impact. He also started to get game-planned. Teams started to put bodies on him, wouldn't let him roll to the rim and catch and finish.

"They looked at Chris like he was a star and somebody we have to neutralize."

Chalmers' chance

Riley stopped short of saying whether free-agent point guard Mario Chalmers would be invited back. Chalmers, like Wade, struggled mightily in the NBA Finals.

"He's a starting point guard on four consecutive Finals teams. He has two world championships," he said. "He's going to have to take stock. He's going to have to take stock in what happened, why it happened, study it and come back better."

Waiting on Ray

Riley said he had yet to receive word from Ray Allen on whether the guard would play on at 39. "We probably asked a little bit too much of him," Riley said of the impending free agent . . .

Riley spoke highly of a pair of former second-round Heat acquisitions. "We have two young players we like in James Ennis and Justin Hamilton. The team has to be layered with some young guys," he said. He said he was high on Ennis, an athletic swingman who played this season in Australia and Puerto Rico before working out extensively recently with the Heat. Hamilton, an outside-shooting center, finished the season on the Heat's inactive list . . .

Of being able to reload with the team's precarious salary-cap position, Riley said, "I guarantee you other players will want to come down here."